Why Did Elijah Still Have to Travail So Earnestly in Prayer When God Was Going to Send the Rain Anyway? If He Did Not Pray, Would God Have Refused to?
1) Direct Answer
Elijah travailed because God tied the promised rain to the prayer of faith and a restored covenant order. The promise set the end; prayer was the God-ordained means. If Elijah had refused to pray, the rain would not have come then. God would not break His own order—He would wait for intercession or raise another to ask.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- God promised rain: “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain” (1 Kings 18:1). Yet Elijah went up, bowed, and prayed repeatedly until the cloud appeared (1 Kings 18:42–45). James states the link plainly: “He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain” (James 5:17–18).
- The covenant required prayer when heaven was shut: “When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain… if they pray… then hear… and give rain” (1 Kings 8:35–36; see also 2 Chronicles 7:13–14). Elijah’s altar, the people’s turning, and his intercession fulfilled that order.
- God attaches promise to asking: “I will yet for this be enquired of… to do it for them” (Ezekiel 36:37). And, “You have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2).
- When there is no intercessor, judgment continues: “I sought for a man… to stand in the gap… but I found none. Therefore have I poured out my indignation” (Ezekiel 22:30–31).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- The decree set the destination (rain), but prayer was the switch that released it in time. Elijah’s travail did not change God’s will; it aligned earth with heaven.
- God doesn’t “refuse” His promise, but He refuses to bypass His Word. No prayer, no release at that moment. Delay is not denial; He honors the means He appointed.
- The sevenfold persistence shows that promises often require persevering faith against resistance until the sign appears.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice—don’t stop at the promise; pray it through. The cloud appears to the one who stays on his knees.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
What hearest thou, Elijah?
59-0609 §19
He was tired and weary, but God cared for His prophet. I think of the lovely kindness that God showed to Elijah when He took him out under the tree, and left his ... went out of his own province over into another province, and there He'd left His servant; and then run on into the jungle, way out into the wilderness to an appointed place. I believe that juniper tree was put in the ground there for that very purpose. God laid him down under the juniper tree and put him to sleep so he could rest a little while. And th...
Expectations
61-0308 §44
And when Noah heard the voice of God telling him that it was going to rain, and the clouds was coming, and it was going to rain; and never had did it in all the ages, but it was going to rain. Noah knew this: that God was creator-God, and He could do anything He wanted to do. And therefore, He was God, and there was nothing else to it. He just knowed that He was able to make rain up there, if there wasn't any up there. He's Jehovah-jireh, the Lord provided Himself a sacrifice. So God can make rain. If there's no cl...
What hearest thou, Elijah?
59-0609 §50
So, when I started to pray for a sick baby, I went to lay my hands on it, and the Holy Spirit said, "What about you wasn't in the house?" You see, if there's a vibration... If something by laying on of hands... If you're not right with God, and there's some condemnation there, you just know in your own heart God's not going to answer you. Now, that's the truth, my brethren. Well, I was so condemned, I didn't want no more of it. I just closed the door, and went up to my cave. All of you know I have a cave. And I sta...
Elijah
55-0301 §19
And now, people just don't realize what God can do through His servants. That's the reason today that people can't get so much done is because they've lost faith in the servants of God. That's right. Part of it is the servant's fault. He tried to tell you God, way back years ago, but God is still God here on earth, using His servants just like He always did. He doesn't fail; He's the same God. All ages, in every age, He's had somebody He could put His hands on. And we must expect God to do something through His ser...
God hiding Himself in simplicity
63-0412E §64
A simple sort of a person Elijah was. And he served God's purpose so good---that simple spirit was in Elijah---until God used it in three other men already, and promised to use it again in the last days. Right. So simple, that would just stand and tell the truth. He used it in Elisha after him, used it in John the Baptist, promised again in Malachi 4 to restore the faith of the children back to the faith of the Pentecostal fathers and the original gospel. He promised it, and He'll do it! That's right---that simple...